Tweaked By Technology

6 Pages 1434 Words

Tweaked By Technology
Science fiction novelist William Gibson weaves technology into the futuristic themes found in his books. In Gibson’s latest novel, Iduro, celebrity and technology are linked in a digital society as media uses technology in a number of ways, both detrimental and beneficial, to affect the careers of celebrities. The media uses and abuses technology to affect the images of celebrities. Celebrities also use technology to affect the general populace’s view of them.
Since the beginning of celebrity media has always used technology to demote and promote lives, shows, movies, albums, and so on. The degree of fame obtained by an individual usually reflects upon how the media portrays the person and the amount of technology used to do so. The media may use technology to benefit a celebrity by hosting a website, a story, or even a show highlighting the attributes of that celebrity. “‘We’re the media,’ ‘We make these assholes celebrities’”(6). For example, two celebrities who are very similar obtain different degrees of fame do to different degrees of exposure by the media. One of them never does any advertising or promoting and is not that famous. The other one is constantly in the media promoting himself and has a whole publicity team dedicated to utilizing new technology. He is a mega star and teen heartthrob because of this.
A well-known star has usually devoted years of his or her life to reach their present status. A bad accident or rumor can destroy a career in a matter of minutes. Just as the media can help a career out, it can more easily cause irreversible damage to it. Tabloids of the twentieth century are dedicated to this art of celebrity sleaze. Many newspapers, magazines, and television shows are aimed at bringing celebrities down by bringing out the smut in their lives for the public to view or by spreading false rumors. These people pry their way into very personal aspec...